Pocitelj Fortress

The fortress at Pocitelj was built in the 14th century to guard the route to Mostar (as illustrated on the map below) but fell to the Ottomans a hundred years later. The village surrounding the castle is very pretty and the fortress itself has extensive remains.

My Experience

Our visit to Pocitelj fortress was a day trip from Dubrovnik and the fortress was really only scheduled in as a quick photo stop. The village was actually so pretty that we spent a good few hours there before continuing on to the crowded tourist site of Mostar. Our entire tour of this area (including our wedding in Dubrovnik!) is on my travel blog, here.

The village was heavily damaged in the 1991 war, particularly the sixteenth century mosque, but this has now been restored. Once you reach the fortress you have views over Pocitelj and its surrounding walls as well as the Neretva river valley. It is worth climbing to the top of the Gavrakapetan Tower, both for views and to see the internal construction.

Pocitelj Fortress Photo Gallery

As these photos are taken in the dim and distant past of 2011 they were not taken in RAW so these are pretty much unedited jpgs. Sorry!

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History

The fort of Počitelj was built between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, with intervals when construction was suspended. The original mediaeval nucleus of the fort is the oldest walled section, where two stages of construction can be identified: the older, inner town or fortress (a donjon tower with a small ward or bailey) from the late fourteenth century, with later additions, alterations and reinforcements dating from the second half of the fifteenth century. To judge from the layout of the oldest parts of the fortress it may be assumed that there was a small settlement below the fortifications, dating from an earlier or the same period as the fortifications themselves. Somewhat prior to 1698, the fortress was considerably enlarged and fortified with a stronger system of defense. The town was walled so as to form an inner bailey from the square tower, two bastions (Mehmed-paša’s and Delibaša’s), Dizdar’s house, a granary, the fort’s mosque and a “water-tower” – a cistern with an entrance and steps leading to the water, two large gateways and two small ones. During the 1992-96 war in BiH the fortress suffered no serious damage.

The walled town of Počitelj evolved over the period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Architecturally, the surviving stone-built parts of the town are a fortified complex, in which two stages of evolution may be observed: mediaeval, and Ottoman.

The first documented reference to the town dates from 1444, in Charters issued by Kings Alfonso V and Friedrich III. During the period 1463-1471 the town held a Hungarian garrison.  Following a brief siege in 1471, the town fell to the Ottomans, and was to remain within the Ottoman Empire until 1878. From 1782 to 1879 it was the centre of a kadiluk (area under the jurisdiction of a kadija or qadi – judge) and from 1713 to 1835 it was the headquarters of the Počitelj military district.

The significance and appearance of the town has altered during the course of its history.  Three periods seem to be significant for the development of Počitelj:

1.   The time of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus when the town had significant strategic importance (1463-1471),

2.   The period of development of the settlement under the Ottoman Empire with the erection of typical public buildings: mosques, mekteb (Muslim primary school), imaret (charitable kitchen), medresa (Muslim high school), hamam, Turkish baths, han (inn) and sahat-kula (clock-tower) (1471-1698). During this period military conflicts occurred in more remote areas.

3.   The period of recovery of its strategic importance after the Venetians conquered and destroyed Gabela (1698-1878).

With the establishment of Austro-Hungarian rule in BiH in 1878, Počitelj lost its strategic importance and began to deteriorate rapidly. The loss of the town’s strategic role helped to safeguard the original urban architectural ensemble, so that the town has been preserved in its original form to this day.

During the 1992-96 war in BiH the entire historic urban site of Počitelj and all its various buildings suffered extensive war damage.

References

Unesco has a good write up on the site here. The history above is taken from there but there is also lots of other useful information there.

There is a brief guide to the village on the Lonely Planet site here.